ALEX Salmond has claimed a BBC interview with Patrick Harvie was what sparked the end of the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens.

The Green co-leader was interviewed by Martin Geissler on the Sunday Show last week to speak about how a decision to pause the prescription of puberty blockers to under-18s had angered the LGBT branch of the party.

The recommendation had been made in the Cass Report which looked at gender identity services in NHS England.

When he was asked whether he accepted the Cass Report as a valid scientific document, Harvie replied: “I’ve seen far too many criticisms of it to be able to say that.”

Former first minister and Alba Party leader Salmond has now claimed the interview was the “source of the crisis” which erupted on Thursday morning when Humza Yousaf sacked Harvie and Lorna Slater as ministers in his government and terminated the power-sharing agreement.

READ MORE: Ian Blackford addresses Scottish Greens ahead of no confidence votes

Yousaf is set to hold crisis talks with Alba MSP Ash Regan this week as he faces a tight confidence vote where he looks likely to need his former leadership rival’s backing in order to survive it.

Salmond explained one of her demands will be that Yousaf commits to moving away from the “identity politics” he claims has taken up “so much bandwidth” in the Scottish Government.

When asked to clarify what he meant by Geissler, he said: “Well let’s give an exact example Martin.

“People have been wondering how this crisis emerged over the last week, and actually the source of the crisis as I understand it is Martin Geissler and your interview with Patrick Harvie last Sunday which sent alarm bells ringing all over the SNP when they realised they were in coalition with someone who wasn’t entirely rational about looking at the Cass Review, which is an extremely impressive, scientific, clinical document which has to be taken very seriously and favourably.

“That’s not what Patrick Harvie was saying and I think a number of people in the SNP said ‘look, it’s time to call a halt’.”

After the Greens confirmed they would not be voting in favour of Yousaf in the confidence vote being brought forward by the Tories – along with the Unionist parties in the Parliament – it means Regan holds the balance of power in the vote.

Salmond said Regan would also be demanding that independence is put “back on the agenda as the number one objective” and that Yousaf “gets back to people’s priorities” which he claimed included housing, education and transport.

He has denied reports he proposed an electoral pact between Alba and the SNP in exchange for Alba's support.

The Sunday Times reported that Salmond said "a top line" of any discussion with Yousaf would be the idea of reviving the Scotland United strategy – which would see a single pro-independence candidate stand in each Scottish constituency.

Whilst a spokesperson for Yousaf said the idea was "fantasy", Salmond also refuted reports of an electoral pact whilst appearing on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

“Given that I never made that proposal in the first place, that was an overwrite in a Sunday newspaper, we're not particularly bothered by that," Salmond said.